


Southern Exposure

by justbreathe80



Category: due South
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-12-15
Updated: 2009-12-15
Packaged: 2017-10-04 10:55:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,173
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29228
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/justbreathe80/pseuds/justbreathe80
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He'd never really thought about Fraser having his own place.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Southern Exposure

**Author's Note:**

> for sandrainthesun, for out_of_con_txt
> 
> Thank you to lordessrenegade for the awesome beta!

“Vecchio.”

“Hello, Ray.” Ray felt himself break into a smile at the sound of Fraser’s voice.

“Hey, Fraser, what’s shaking?” He cradled the phone between his ear and his shoulder and put his feet up on his desk.

Fraser cleared his throat. “Well, Ray, I was hoping you could meet me somewhere.”

“Yeah, sure, where?” Fraser cleared his throat, _again_, and now Ray was getting worried. Fraser could – what was the word? -- _prevaricate_ with the best of them, but he was being pretty fucking weird here.

There was a pause, then Fraser said, “I suppose I should tell you up front that I’ve been thinking very seriously about moving. Out of the Consulate, that is.”

“You want to move _where_?” Ray said, surprised. He’d never really thought about Fraser having his own place. He knew that Fraser had, when Vecchio was still Vecchio and Ray was still Kowalski, but Ray’d never known him anywhere but his office at the Consulate.

“The Consulate was never supposed to be permanent,” Fraser said, sounding a little miffed. “My apartment building burned down, remember? I thought it was high time that I found my own place.”

“That sounds _good_, Frase. Okay, yeah, so where do you want me to meet you?” He reached across his desk for a pen and a pad of paper as Fraser recited the address. When he was sure he had it, he put the pen down. “I’ll meet you there in about an hour, okay?”

“Thank you kindly, Ray.”

“No prob, buddy. See you then.” Ray hung up, and studied the address for a minute. Fraser with his own apartment. It was weird to think about, because Ray was so used to Fraser at his place, pizza and a game on, just hanging out. He wondered if they would do stuff like that now that Fraser had someplace that wasn’t his goddamn office to hang his hat.

*****

Ray pulled the GTO around the corner, glancing down the address while he scanned the street. He should have known what kind of neighborhood this was before he drove here, just by the address, but he was still pretty fucking surprised. Because this neighborhood was pretty nice, up and coming. Neat rows of storefronts with several stories of apartments above, pretty clean, young, professional people walking around.

He’d never seen Fraser’s old place, but he’d heard about it, and he knew that it was a tough neighborhood. It was like Fraser had thought of his home as some kind of social service project, that he could make the neighborhood better just by being there, crazy Mountie. Because of that, Ray hadn’t expected _this_. A place where he could park the GTO without worrying it was going to be sold off for parts while he was upstairs.

He parked and spotted Fraser standing on the sidewalk, hat in hand. He got out of the car and walked up to where Fraser was standing.

“Hello, Ray,” Fraser said, looking down at his hat. Okay, still weird.

“Hey, Fraser. Is this the place?” Ray gestured, with a wave of his hand, to the building behind Fraser. Fraser looked up at Ray, then down again.

“Yes, Ray, the landlady let me borrow the key for the afternoon. Shall we?” Ray let Fraser lead, and they climbed two flights of stairs to a door. Fraser worked the key into the lock, his hands shaking just a little (what the _fuck_?), and swung the door open for Ray to walk inside.

The front hallway opened up into a large living room with a bay window, and the whole room was flooded with sunlight. Ray turned to see an eat-in kitchen behind him. There was a hallway to the right that Ray assumed led to the bedroom and bathroom. He whistled and turned to face Fraser, smiling. “This place is _fantastic_, Frase. Not what I expected, but, god, it’s a hell of a lot nicer than my place.”

Fraser tugged at his collar and picked at the hem of the serge. “Thank you, Ray. I’m glad you like it.” Fraser kept his head down, and Ray just stared at him for a second. Okay, enough was enough. He walked over to where Fraser was standing and grabbed him by the biceps, feeling the serge rough under his hands. Fraser’s whole body was tense, and his head snapped up.

“What the fuck, Fraser? You better tell me what’s going on. You invited me down here, you _wanted_ me to see this place, and now you won't even look at me. What gives?” Fraser looked into Ray’s eyes. He looked terrified, and Ray felt pretty bad for almost yelling at him, but he didn’t understand what was going on. Fraser found a great apartment. It was a good thing and he should be happy about it, and Ray had no idea why he looked like someone had killed his dog.

“Ray, I – It’s just, well, I wanted to show this place to you. I wanted you to like it,” Fraser said quietly.

“I _do_ like it. So what’s wrong?”

Fraser sighed heavily, then pulled his arms out of Ray’s grip. But instead of pulling away, he put his hands on Ray’s face, and it suddenly got really, really hard for Ray to breathe.

“Ray, I haven’t had much privacy since I came back here, living in the Consulate, and it’s been hard for me to have many meaningful social relationships. Intimate ones. I’m hoping that, now that I have an apartment, that can happen.” Fraser’s eyes softened and Ray just stared, stupidly.

“Are you saying you want a girlfriend, Frase? Because that’s cool, that’s greatness –“ and he couldn’t say another damn thing because Fraser’s mouth was on his, and he knew he had a thing for Fraser, he'd had one since that very first day in the station, but this? He’d given up hope of this a long time ago. He felt Fraser’s tongue against his lips, and he turned his head and opened his mouth, deepening the kiss and feeling Fraser’s tongue sweep over his. The kiss was hot and hard and so very, very good, and he put his hands on Fraser’s hips and let himself go.

When they finally pulled apart, they were both out of breath and gasping a little. For a moment Ray was afraid that Fraser was changing his mind or something, but then Fraser was pulling him close, wrapping his arms around Ray’s back and holding on tight, murmuring in his ear.

“It’s for you, Ray, for you. I want to have somewhere to bring you, I want to have you spend the night, I want you here with me,” Fraser was saying, and Ray smiled against his neck and held on tight.

“Yeah, Frase, okay,” he said softly and kissed Fraser’s neck. “But no watching curling when I’m over, got it?” Fraser looked at him, startled, then laughed. It rang out in the bright, sunny room, and Ray clutched Fraser tightly and held on.

“Understood, Ray.”


End file.
